Headache Update

Yesterday was another running milestone for me..I did the first 20 miler of my training. I have to admit that it was not pretty. More on that in the next post (& I promise it won't take another month!).

But first, let me back up to my 17 miler which was just 3 weeks ago. I felt great on that run..I had just finished listening to the Extra Mile Galloway Edition podacast where Jeff Galloway himself personally gave me his tips on how to deal with my post long run headaches. He said these types of headaches are usually caused by: not being properly hydrated, low blood sugar or the pace isn't slow enough. Well, I knew my pace was not the issue and I thought I was drinking more than enough water..so I zeroed in on the low blood sugar.

I brought some candy (Spree) with me on my 17 miler and had a few every couple of miles. Other than that, I stuck with my normal routine of what I ate that morning, etc. After the run, I really didn't get the headache..until around dinnertime, that is. That's when it kicked in..so I'm back to square one again.

I went in for a routine checkup last week and I was expecting to see my doctor (who delivered both of my kids), but instead the new nurse practioner walked in. At first, I was a little disappointed because I really like my regular doctor. Anyway, the nurse & I were talking and it turns out that she runs marathons..she was young (younger than me), but she has a lot of experience (she runs 2-3 marathons a year!). Anyway, she was able to give me some advice about my headaches..she's thinking that I drink too much water in the days leading up to the long run and my sodium is basically already depleted by the time I start running. I guess that could be possible. She told me to try these margarita cliff shots..they have extra sodium in them. Unfortunately, I couldn't find them..but I did cut back on my water drinking the day before. I have to say that I did still get a headache, but it wasn't that bad. It was manageable at least. I will continue to try to tweak things little bit so maybe there is still hope. But for now, the headache saga continues :(